Starring:	Susan Sarandon	124min
	Geena Davis
	Harvey Kietel	1991
	Brad Bitt
	Michael Madsen
		Road Movie /
Screenplay:	Callie Khouri	Comedy
Director:	Ridley Scott	Colour

Region	2	Studio:	MGM
Format	Single Sided, Dual Layer	Subtitles	English
			English/German Closed Captions
Aspect ratio	2.35:1		Italian/Spanish/Portugese
			German/French/Dutch/Finnish
Anamorphic	Yes		Sweedish/Norweigen/Danish
Soundtracks	Dolby Digital 5.1	Extra Features	Director's Commentary
	German Dolby Digital 2.0		Alternate Ending
	French Dolby Digital 2.0		(with or without commentary)
	Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0		Theatrical Trailer
	Italian Dolby Digital 2.0		8 Page Booklet
Case type	Amaray

The DVD * * * *		The Movie * * * * *
Finally. Finally there exists a buyable version of this film which actually does it justice. Ridley Scott's Panavision with a capital PANAVISION is here rendered with all its fabulous Technicolor glory, from the deep blue skies, through the green of the Arkansas fields to the red rocks of the American Southwest. The image quality is excellent - just a little grainy on close inspection, but nothing so as you'd really notice. Note that the American version of this title is not anamorphic, so if you have a widescreen telly you'll notice a helluva difference. The high quality is also achieved here due to the use of dual layer technology, and the magic switch occurs in a quiet moment at around 67 minutes. This Pan European release, positively weighed down with language soundtracks and subtitles, has a 6 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack. The incidental music occasionally sounds companded (like playing a non-Dolby audio cassette with the Dolby on), but this is a subtle effect only noticeable once or twice. The level of the surrounds is distractingly high compared to other discs, but that's easily compensated for. Far more serious is (and this is getting all-too-common), a slight loss of sync roughly between 25 and 35 minutes in. There are a few great sound moments otherwise though - check out the echoes off the rocks after Louise shoots the police radio. Gripe over, just about everything else about this disc is superb. The commentary has Scott valiantly trying to entertain us without the aid of other people, puppets or artificial stimulants. He does a pretty good job, wildly veering between insights of his other films (especially Blade Runner), the Academy, the wonders of the dry air in Moab, Utah and - oh yes - Thelma & Louise. For such a technical director, he clearly relishes the chance to be here more concerned about character than effects. I won't spoil what happens in the alternate ending, except to say it is for anyone who wondered what happens after the movie's freeze frame. It's a rough-as-old-boots rough cut, as is common for these things, but a very welcome addition to the DVD, especially with the optional commentary by Scott. But I will say that I agree with his final choice... The menus are attractively designed - one especially nice touch is the Scene Selection menu. The famous Route 163 leading to Monument Valley on the film's poster is here adorned with road signs, each with a group selection on it, and each page has six poster-style Polaroids with the pictures on them. Ace. But one last little moan - you have to wade through several mysterious language captions before you can play, and there are endless copyright notices at the end where you can't even press stop! That's just plain daft, as is the only-five-minute-pause on the menu before starting the film. As it sets itself off, the first you know of it is the MGM lion roar. When your not expecting it, it damn near gives you a heart attack. Gracious, you'll drop your lovely, attractive accompanying colour booklet. Being a five star film, I so wanted to give the disc five stars too, but that bit of slight slipped sync is a problem (if nowhere near as serious as Disney's abortions). But don't let it put you off - this is basically a great DVD that really does a great film justice.		It doesn't sound like much of pitch, does it? It's a road movie, but with GIRLS. Yawwwnn, right? Wrong. This didn't win the Oscar for Best Screenplay and earn it's joint Best Actress nominations for nothing. Everything about this film is superb - a bone fide modern classic from beginning to end, thoroughly deserving of its iconic tag. Thelma and - wouldn't you just know it - Louise set off for a quiet Arkansas fishing weekend. That may not sound like a biggest of big deals, but it is for young Thelma (Davis) - the first time she's been away from her Male Chauvanist Pig husband during their marriage. She leaves him a see-you-on-Monday note and, drunk on adrenaline, gets drunk at their first pitstop at a redneck bar. But as the Wild Turkeys send Thelma for a breath of fresh air, things go rapidly and violently wrong. Fortunately, Louise (Sarandon) arrives with a gun before Thelma is raped by the local rapist, but unfortunately, he decides to vent his poisonous verbal spleen to the girls. And Louise is the one with the gun. And so, with no physical evidence, witnesses or chance of a fair hearing by the local law enforcement, Thelma & Louise go on the run. It all works because we like them - Khouri's perfectly structured and layered script has two fully fleshed-out characters in an impossible situation they desperately struggle to control. The premise doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs, but the big surprise is that it is (when it wants to be). Indeed, the only people not laughing will be those men who "work" late and expect a three course meal when they get in... and no questions asked. Most (not all) of the men in the movie may be stereotypes, but that doesn't mean they're not realistic. The film successfully treads the fine line between the desperately serious and the desperately comic. Now all that makes it sound like a feminist treatise, and it isn't that either. It's just a wonderful, energetic, vibrant story, plain and simple. Scott turns in the best movie of his career (even above Blade Runner and Alien), and paints his frame with his customary visual trademarks. He just couldn't resist having them drive through an oil field, complete with venting steam, could he? But who cares... the American Southwest has never looked so good. Every part of the film is near flawless, from Adrian Biddle's cinematography to Hans Zimmer's stupendous ethereal synths and blues guitar score. Film just doesn't get better than this.